Question 1

The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a 23-year-old astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Who suggested the name 'Pluto' — the Roman god of the underworld?

Accepted Answer

An 11-year-old British schoolgirl named Venetia Burney. Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old girl in Oxford, England, suggested the name 'Pluto' over breakfast after reading about the discovery. Her grandfather passed the suggestion to astronomers at Oxford, who telegrammed it to the Lowell Observatory, where it was chosen unanimously. She lived to see Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet in 2006.

Question 2

Mother's Day in the United States was first officially celebrated in 1908 — but the woman who campaigned hardest to create the holiday later spent decades trying to abolish it. Who was she, and why did she turn against it?

Accepted Answer

Anna Jarvis — she was furious it had become too commercialized. Anna Jarvis single-handedly campaigned to make Mother's Day a national holiday, succeeding in 1914 — but she spent the rest of her life in bitter protest because greeting card companies and florists had turned it into a commercial holiday. She died penniless after spending her inheritance on legal battles against the very holiday she created.

Question 3

Ernest Hemingway is famous for very short, punchy sentences — a style he reportedly developed partly because of his early career. What job trained him to write that way before he became a novelist?

Accepted Answer

Newspaper journalist. Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star and later the Toronto Star, where editorial rules demanded short sentences, active verbs, and no unnecessary words. He later said those newsroom rules were the best writing training he ever received.

Question 4

The word 'Triceratops' is immediately recognizable — but what does its name literally mean in Greek?

Accepted Answer

Three-horned face. Triceratops comes from the Greek words 'tri' (three), 'keras' (horn), and 'ops' (face) — literally 'three-horned face.' Paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh named it in 1889 after initially mistaking its skull for that of an unusual bison.

Question 5

Trick-or-treating as we know it today — children going door to door in costumes for candy — became widespread in America primarily because of which decade's cultural shift?

Accepted Answer

The 1950s, as postwar suburban neighborhoods made it safe and practical. Trick-or-treating exploded in the 1950s — postwar America's new suburban neighborhoods with sidewalks, safe streets, and booming candy industries created the perfect conditions, and the baby boom meant millions of costumed kids ready to participate.

July 21, 2026 Trivia

1. The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a 23-year-old astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Who suggested the name 'Pluto' — the Roman god of the underworld?

2. Mother's Day in the United States was first officially celebrated in 1908 — but the woman who campaigned hardest to create the holiday later spent decades trying to abolish it. Who was she, and why did she turn against it?

3. Ernest Hemingway is famous for very short, punchy sentences — a style he reportedly developed partly because of his early career. What job trained him to write that way before he became a novelist?

4. The word 'Triceratops' is immediately recognizable — but what does its name literally mean in Greek?

5. Trick-or-treating as we know it today — children going door to door in costumes for candy — became widespread in America primarily because of which decade's cultural shift?